The Renter Toolkit

The Utah Housing Coalition offers a useful resource in addressing the interests of both landlords and tenants that acts as a guide to being successful in rental housing. Iron County Care and Share encourages you to download, read and use this toolkit to move toward successful tenancy and home ownership.

For years, landlords and tenants have struggled to communicate with one another in a manner that allows the concerns, issues, and rights of both parties to be mutually respected and addressed. Property owners and managers have struggled to maintain their businesses and livelihoods while balancing the needs of tenants. Tenants have had difficulty understanding the purpose behind what can seem like heavy-handed policies and rules. Both sides of the overall landlord/tenant issue have valid concerns.

This booklet aims to address some of those concerns in a meaningful, mutually respectful way. It is our goal to provide information to tenants that will be useful in addressing the interests of both landlords and tenants and will ultimately act as a guide to being successful in rental housing.

To that end, we provide information here that is divided into 3 categories:

Being a Successful Tenant, Renters’ Rights and Obtaining Home-ownership. We believe that these sections will strengthen the business relationship between property owners, property managers, and renters. Being a Successful Tenant helps tenants understand the process of renting a dwelling, from applying for housing through the situations that can arise once a person is living in a rental unit. It also explores the end of the rental term, when your lease ends and you move out.

Renters’ Rights explores the laws and rules that protect tenants. It also addresses the rights of property owners, so that you can recognize limits when it comes to exercising and protecting your rights.

Obtaining Home-ownership briefly covers the preparation process and programs in our community for tenants who feel they might be ready to become homeowners. This will help tenants determine whether or not they’re ready, and if so, how to proceed as an informed potential home buyer.

We hope that The Renter Toolkit will prove useful to both landlords and tenants who want to achieve better communication, understanding and respect in their contractual relationships.